Driving cap for fence posts



June 26, 1934. ug-rm 1,964,657

DRIVING CAP FOR FENCE POSTS Filed Oct. 21. 1932 Patented June 26, 1934 UNITED STATES DRIVING CAP FOR FENCE POSTS Harold E. Austin, Louisville, Ky., assignor to American Creosoting Company, Louisville, Ky., a corporation of Delaware Application October 21,

1 Claim.

This invention relates to driving caps for fence posts, and particularly to a cap for use in driving wood fence posts into the ground.

Wood fence posts which are treated with a preservative, such as creosote, have a long useful life and are cheaper than steel fence posts. As customarily employed, Wood fence posts have been placed in post holes and have failed to develop a relatively high ground resistance as it is practically impossible to tamp the earth around an inserted post to restore the ground to its original condition. By ground resistance is meant the resistance offered by the ground to angular movement or tilting of the post. Wood posts placed in post holes do, however, have a greater ground resistance than driven steel posts but the cost of digging post holes is much greater than the cost of driving steel posts.

According to the present invention, wood posts may be driven with substantially the same facility as steel posts. The particular advantage of the driven wood post is that, while requiring a somewhat greater efiort to drive the wood post, it develops a much higher ground resistance than the customary steel posts of T, angle or tubular construction.

An object of the present invention is to provide a driving cap which may be placed over the top end of a pointed or sharpened wood post to protect the post from damage during the driving operation. A further object is to provide a metal driving cap having a socket which closely fits the top of a wood post, and in which the top wall of the socket is provided with a die for marking the top of a post as it is driven into the ground.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following specification when taken with the accompanying drawing, in which,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a driving cap embodying the invention,

Fig. 2 is a side view, partly in central section, of the driving cap as placed in position on the top of a wood post,

Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view, and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a wood fence post with which the driving cap may be used.

In the drawing, the reference numeral 1 identifies the circular top or striking surface of a metal driving cap which has side walls 2 projecting below a bottom wall 3 to define a socket which has a close fit with the top of a wood fence post 4. The inner surfaces of the side walls 2 have a slight taper to facilitate the placing of the cap upon a post, but the size and shape of the side walls adjacent the bottom wall 3 conforms to the top edge of the post.

The wall 3 is preferably provided with a die or dies for marking the post top during the driving operation. As shown in Fig. 3, a die 6 in 1932, Serial No. 638,976

the form of a significant identification symbol or trademark and a second die 7 which constitutes a year designation are formed on the wall 3.

Particular attention is directed to the fact that the striking top 1 is of substantially less size than the top of the post, and is connected to the socket portion of the cap by steeply sloping side walls 8. The significance of this construction is that the wood post will not be damaged if the cap is inadvertently struck olf center, as frequently happens when the post is driven by a sledge hammer. If the hammer travels along a line such as indicated by the arrow A, the hammer will glance from the cap and will not give rise to a force which will shear the post off at the plane of the lower edge of the cap. This shearing action takes place when the cap has the previously employed form of a cylindrical socket having a plane striking top of the same shape and somewhat larger size than the cross-section of the post.

After driving a post, the cap may be readily removed by tapping the lower edge of the walls 2. The top of the post is marked during the driving, and is preserved from damage as the socket walls closely fit the post and prevent all tendency towards a shearing action or relative movement of the fibers of the top of the wood post.

The wood post may be of circular cross-section with a conical point, but is preferably of square or rectangular cross-section with a wedgeshaped driving end, as this shape of point does not decrease the area of post which engages the ground to resist tilting of the post. The shape of the driving cap will, of course, vary with the design of the post and, for a given post design, the outer walls of the cap may be varied so long as steeply sloping side walls are provided between a small striking top and the socket portion of the cap.

I claim:

A metal driving cap for use with wood posts of rectangular cross-section, said cap comprising side walls and a bottom wall, the bottom wall being of substantially the size and shape of the top of a post, a circular striking top of substantially smaller size than the top of a post, sloping side walls joining the side walls of the socket and the striking top, and a die at the inner face of said bottom wall for automatically marking the top of a post as it is driven into the ground.

HAROLD E. AUSTIN. 

